Resource partitioning and habitat-specific dietary plasticity of two estuarine sparid fishes increase food-web complexity
Marcus Sheaves A C , Janine Sheaves A , Krista Stegemann A and Brett Molony B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Coastal and Estuary Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
B WA Fisheries and Marine Research Laboratory, Department of Fisheries, Western Australia, PO Box 20 North Beach, WA 6920, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: marcus.sheaves@jcu.edu.au
Marine and Freshwater Research 65(2) 114-123 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF12348
Submitted: 7 December 2012 Accepted: 2 July 2013 Published: 18 September 2013
Abstract
The diets of the co-occurring sparid fishes Acanthopagrus australis and A. pacificus were investigated to assess dietary overlap and resource partitioning, the extent of spatial variation and implications for the complexity of trophic interactions in tropical estuaries. Both species consumed a wide variety of prey, including bivalves, gastropods, crustaceans and polychaetes. There were clear differences in diet among sites separated by less than a kilometre. Site-specific substrata determined prey type, so diets at sites within a sandy bay were comprised largely of benthic infauna, whereas those at mangrove-lined sites contained substantial amounts of mangrove-associated prey. Although there was general dietary overlap between the two species, their diets differed substantially at any one site when viewed at a fine taxonomic resolution. A. pacificus displayed a very region- and site-specific diet, apparently feeding in different, and spatially separate, food chains at these different locations. Its main prey varied markedly among sites, seemingly because of habitat differences. By feeding in different food chains (and potentially different food webs) at different points in space and time, species such as A. pacificus have the potential both to link food webs operating in a variety of habitats and to add substantially to the complexity of tropical estuarine food webs.
Additional keywords: Acanthopagrus, diet, dietary overlap, trophic.
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